888 Chinatown Square advanced to the semifinals, while Sta. Fe Resort swept the elimination round with an unblemished record as Class B action heats up in the 12th Tan Kek Pin Memorial Basketball Cup at Tay Tung High School Po Hang Gym.

Chinatown won the battle for an automatic semifinals slot by defeating Buddy-Johann Kendrick Tan, 74-70, as Sta. Fe eliminated RU Shredder, 89-66, to register its eighth straight win.

The victory over Buddy-Johann Kendrick Tan gave 888 Chinatown finished its sixth win in eight games, while Buddy absorbed its third loss for a 5-3 win-loss card, same with RU Shredder.

Alfie’s Construction is at 4-3 and the other quarterfinalists will be determined between the winner of Nena’s Rose II Shopping and Nena’s Rose I, playing as of presstime.

Buddy and 888 engaged in several lead changes in the first half as Buddy kept a slim 34-32 lead at the half.

But 888 opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run en route to grabbing the lead by the end of the quarter at 54-49.

As the outside shooting of JKT went south in the first half of the payoff quarter, 888 was able to establish a 63-54 lead.

JKT caught up with 888 as Franklin Madrid delivered back-to-back treys and a Badong Eufre triple forced a deadlock.

Unfazed by the turn of events, Jolly Castillo, Marc Lo and Jan Jan Lopue answered the four straight points by Eufre for a 68-67 lead.

In the next offensive, 888 had six offensive rebounds in one play and ended on a Castillo putback, while teammate Rey Pandoro scored on a fastbreak layup to seal the outcome of the closely fought contest.

Pandoro finished with 18 points, Lo added 12, Castillo scored 11 points, Ralph Richard Tan and Lopue with 9 points each and Frederick Ong had 8 points.

Mark Binguan topscored for Buddy with 22 points, 15 of them delivered in the first quarter, Madrid hit 14, Mark Coo shot 13, and Eufre made 11 points.

Meanwhile, Sta. Fe left nothing to chance for an elimination round sweep as the contest was decided in the first half as they posted a commanding 53-23 halftime lead.

Clarence Quingco spearheaded Sta. Fe campaign with 18 points, backstopped by Bol Manaloto with 11, Daniel Chiu and Michael Ang 10 points apiece, Edward Uy 9, and Johann Villanueva 8 points.

RU was bannered by Toffel Tan with 16 points, John Montemayor 11, Biboy Yap 9, Aldrian Tan 8 points, and Ton Ton Chua 7 points.*with a report from Stephen Tan

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2,096 medals up for grabs in WVRAA
888 Chinatown books semis seat,  Sta. Fe sweeps elimination round